Burger King's Twitter account hacked, hilarity ensues

Burger King's Twitter account shows hacking activity before the account was suspended by Twitter in this screen grab taken on February 18, 2013. (REUTERS/Handout)

(TheWrap.com) - Someone appears to have been telling some serious whoppers on Burger King's Twitter account.

The fast-food giant's social-media presence reportedly received an unexpected and surely unwanted revamp on Monday, after a hacker apparently decided to take the Burger King motto "have it your way" to heart in a deliciously devious manner.

Burger King's verified Twitter account -- or at least an account that seemed to be the company's official account -- was reportedly hacked into on Monday by an unknown perpetrator who rechristened the page into McDonald's' image, and claimed that Burger King's rival had purchased the company.

Perhaps because of the Presidents' Day holiday, Burger King was slow to respond to the attack; as news outlets throughout the web reported on the hack job, the compromised account remained active for about an hour.

Burger King Worldwide Inc. suspended its Twitter account about an hour after it learned of the attack at 12:24 p.m. EST on Monday, company spokesman Bryson Thornton said in an email.

"It has come to our attention that the Twitter account of the BURGER KING brand has been hacked," the company said in a statement. "We have worked directly with administrators to suspend the account until we are able to re-establish our legitimate site and authentic postings."

"We just got sold to McDonalds! Look for McDonalds in a hood near you," one post read.

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The bogus merger news wasn't the only bit of chicanery to take place on Burger King's Twitter account Monday; in addition to random YouTube videos being linked to on the food chain's page, a number of messages of a seriously non-corporate nature were issued.

"This is why we were sold to @McDonalds! All of our employees crush and sniff percocets in the bathrooms," another read.

The account also linked to an image purporting to show an employee with a syringe in his arm while in one of the restaurants chain's restrooms.

Shortly after the account was suspended McDonald's claimed innocence in the matter.

"We empathize with our @BurgerKing counterparts. Rest assured, we had nothing to do with the hacking," McDonald's announced via Twitter.

Rival fast-food chains Wendy's and Jack in the Box have so far maintained a perhaps suspicious silence about the hacking on their Twitter accounts.

Burger King has not yet responded to TheWrap's request for comment. However, a spokesman for Twitter told TheWrap that the company doesn't comment on individual accounts because, perhaps ironically, of "for privacy and security reasons."